Electromechanical automatic signaling and collision-preventing device.



- No. 718,071. PATENTED JAN. 13, 1903.

O. S. L. BAKER. ELEOTROMEOHANIOAL AUTOMATIC SIGNALING AND COLLISIONPREVENTING DEVICE.

INYENTOR .5? Hm BY we -Nuhcl M 7 ATTORNEY.

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APPLICATION FILED AUG. 25, 1902. m MODEL.

"WITNESSES:

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C. S. L. BAKER.

PATENTED JAN. 13, 1903. ELEGTE MEGHANIQAL AUTOMATIC SIGN'ALINGANDCOLLISION PREVENTING DEVICE.

APPLICATION EILEi) AUG. 25'. 1902.

NO- MODEL.

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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

CHARLES S. L. BAKER, OF ST. JOSEPH,MISSOURI.

ELECTROMECHANICAL AUTOMATIC SIGNALING AND COILlSlON-PREVENTING DEVICE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 718,071, dated January13, 1903.

' Application filed August 25, 1902. Serial No. 120,951. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that 1, CHARLES S. L. BAKER, a citizen of the United States,residing at 2616 Locust street, St. Joseph, in the county of Buchananand State of Missouri, have invented certain new and useful Improvementsin Electromechanical Automatic Signaling and Collision and WreckPreventing Devices; and I do declare the following to be a full, clear,and exact description of the invention,'such as will enable othersskilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same,reference being bad to the accompanying drawings, and to the letters ofreference marked thereon, which form a part of this specification.

The object sought by me is to provide an automatic electromechanicalsignaling and recording device to be used in connection with locomotivesand railway-rails and which is adapted to sound or give warning tolocomotives moving in any direction at stations and railway andpublic-road crossings, and at the time of signaling make record thereof.

I accomplish my object by means of wires and suitable contact-boxeshaving connection with the rails and the wheels or brushes attached tothe locomotives, the wires and rails being connected with banks ofelectrical batteries forming complete electrical circuits with bells andsignals placed in the locomotives and stations and at railway andpublicroad crossings.

I attain my objects by the mechanism illustrated in the accompanyingdrawings, in which 7 Figure 1 is a perspective of a railway-track andwire and contact-boxes, a railway or public-road crossing post and itsgong and electrical wires, a station, a locomotive provided with brushor press wheels, the press-wheel being shown pressing-on a contact-boxas the locomotive passes over. Fig. 2 is a ground plan of the partsshown in Fig. 1 with the 10- comotive, except the bumper-timber, pilot,and press-wheel, omitted. Fig. 3 is an interior view of thelocomotive-cab as shown from the rear, showing the alarm-bell, theelectric drop-switch, the electric lamp, wires and lamp-battery, andalso the brush-wheel beneath the cab. Fig. 4. is a verticalcross-sectionties at any desired distanceapart.

of the brush-wheel and contact-box at the contact-switch and the railand its connection with the box. Fig. 5 is alongitudinal elevation ofthe contact-box, showing all of its interior mechanism. Fig. 6 is alongitudinal cross-section of the contact-box, also showing interiorparts of the box and the door thereto. Fig. 7 is a front view of therecording-box, showing the electric drops, pencils, and therecording-paper; and Fig. 8 is an end view of said recording-box,showing the rollers, wires, and a drop and pencil.

Similar letters refer to similar parts throughout the several views.

In the drawings, D represents one of the rails of a railway-track, and DD the ties.

B is a railway-station, in which there is a bank of batteries H, and Sis a post ata railway or public-road crossing.

O (J are contact-boxes set on the ends of the These boxes are eachpreferably about four feet long and eight inches wide and are setlongitudinally with the track and as near thereto as may be withoutinterfering with the wheels of the locomotive. The top 0 of each box isconstructed partially convex, and its ends and sides are flanged, asshown in Figs. 4 and 5. Attached to said top there is a contact-bar d,connected to said box by a pivot e, the other end of the bar being freeto move up and down.

F'is a wire extending along on the ends of the railway-ties and throughboxes 0 C. This wire has electrical connection at point J with the bankof battery-cells H.

A is a wheel carried by a bar or hanger A, which is bolted to the end ofthe locomotivepilot bumping-timber A. The oflice of this wheel is topress down on the top of contactbox 0. Being thus pressed, bar (:1 isforced down between contact-prongs f f, and connection is formed betweenwire F and rail D through said prongs f f and through wire K, whichconnects box 0 withsaid rail D.

R is a spring attached at its lower end to thebottom of box 0. Thisspringis capable of sustaining a weight of three hundred pounds, and itsoffice is to instantly return top 0" and bar d to their nomal positionwhen wheel A has passed off of said top, thus disengaging bar d fromprongs ff and breaking the electric circuit. Box 0 is also provided withlugs Q Q to provide points for attaching wires and switches and prongsff. Pivoted to one of these lugs is a short connecting-bar h, adapted tobe operated by hand in the same manner as an ordinary knife-switch. Whenthis bar is closed, it engages prongs b 1), thereby connecting lugs Q Q,which completes the circuit. Access is had to said bar or hand switch hthrough a side door 0 in said contact-box O, and it will be readily seenthat in case of a train wreck or accident any member of a train crew cansignal to an approaching locomotive and also give notice to a stationwithin the circuit of the accident.

L is a brush-wheel which may be attached to the floor of a cab, as shownin Fig.3, or at any suitable point.

V is an electric lamp connected to an electric drop-switch W. Whendrop-switch W falls, it may expose a picture of a locomotive. At thesame instant a graphophone may announce the approach of the locomotiveWires run down from drop W and lampVto a storage battery E, placed underthe engineers seat.

T is a bell. Wires 2% i run down under the engineers seat and throughthe cab-floor. One Wire connects one side of the bell to brush-wheel Land thence through the wheel to rail I and thence to battery H. Theother wire is attached to the locomotive-frame at any convenient point,and passes thence through the wheels to rails D, thence throughcontact-box C to wire F and into battery H, forming a complete circuit,ringing the bells of all locomotives and stations within the circuit.Metal strip I is laid parallel with rail D, but alongside the oppositerail of the track. It is continuously in circuit, having constantconnection with battery-cells H.

In the station at the side of the bell p, which is connected by wire Gto metal strip I and by wire G to rail D, there is a time registeringelectric drop-box X, the drops being numbered to conform to the severalsections of the railway. This box X registers the speed, locality, anddirection of travel of the locomotives within its circuit. The box mayalso be placed in a locomotive-cab, in which case it is adapted toautomatically register the precise moment at which the road-crossinggong is rung and at the same instant record the number of theroad-crossing. This registering-box consists of a series of electricdrops X X, numbered to conform to the several sections of the railway,and it is also provided with rollers R R, carrying paper P, ruled inhours, minutes, and seconds, upon which pencil P makes record whenever adrop X falls. Connection is bad for one side of all of these drops withmetal strip I through bell-wire G at point G, and for the other side ofall of these drops connection is had to wire F through box 0 at Y. Theconnection for this side of the drops must be made by a separate wire Zfor each drop to the binding-post B of one of boxes 0. When the bellsare rung from boxes 0 C, Fig. 2, connection is had with rail D by meansof a wire M passing under metal strip I and connecting with rail D at Nand with wire F by means of wire 0, passing under strip I and connectingwith wire F at points P P.

A locomotive having been started from a given point, wheel A passes ontoand depresses the top 0 of box 0, causing bar dto engage with prongs ff,thereby forming connection between wireF and rail D and Wires tt throughbrush-wheel L to metal strip I, which completes a circuit. This causesevery bell in that circuit to ring whether in station, locomotive-cabs,or elsewhere. At the same time this circuit will actuate the electricdrops of the registering devices in the station or stations and at thesame instant will actuate the drop that lights the lamp in thelocomotive-cab. When the locomotive reaches the vicinity of a railway ora public-road crossing and wheelA passes onto and depresses the top 0 ofbox 0, it causes bar 01 to engage with prongs ff, thereby formingconnection between wire F and wires K K and the metal strip I, thusforming a complete circuit and causing gong S to ring.

What I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

In an automatic signaling, collision and wreck preventingdevice thecombinationlwith a bank of batteries, of a battery-wire and thetrack-wire F forming connection at point J, the contact-box C and itspivoted top 0', spring R, bar 7?. and door 0, the lugs Q Q, therein andtheir binding posts B B to which said track-wire is attached, theduplicate prongs ff and the bar d adapted to contact therewith, rail Dand wire K forming connection between it and one of said lugs, apress-wheel A attached to a locomotive at its side and adapted to beardown upon top 0 as the locomotive passes and to press bar d down betweenand into contact with prongs ff thus forming a circuit, a wire 25forming connection with rail D by means of the metal framing and wheelsof the locomotive, a bell T connected with the upper end of said wire 6,drop-box W electrically connected with said bell T, wheel and hanger Land wire 15 forming connection between it and bell T, and metal strip Ihaving connection with battery H by means of battery-wire, therebycompleting the entire circuit, station-bell p which is rung at the sameinstant by means of connection with metal strip I by wire G and withrail D by wire Gr, time-registerin g dropboxes X X operating at the sameinstant and connected with metal strip I by means of bell-wire G andwith box 0 by means of wire Z, gong S on railway or public-road crossingposts S, also adapted to be rung at the same instant, and wire Kconnecting said gong with box 0 and wire K connecting it with metalstrip I, lampVin the lo comotivecab adapted to be lighted by connectionwith In testimony whereof I affix my signature storage battery E whendrop W falls formin presence of two Witnesses.

ing connection, rollers R R"operated by a clock, ruled paper P carriedby and on said CHARLES BAKER rollers, drop-door X and its pencil P, allWitnesses:

substantially as described and for the pur- GEORGE W. JOHNSTON,

pose specified. 1 MOSES D. LAWRIE.

